High school and middle school students in Tennessee who sign up to take agriculture classes this fall may return to find their teachers gone, classes cut, or programs shut down.
Nearly 6% of agriculture teachers leave the profession each year because of retirement, employment in other industries, or simply being terminated by the school. Even with 33,000 students enrolled in over 200 school-based agricultural education programs across the state, vacant positions and frequent staff turnover in Tennessee schools are still a reality.
In Whitley County, Kentucky, about 100 students, parents and other supporters protested recently because of a school board plan to cut one of the local high school’s agricultural education positions in order to expand the industrial maintenance program. Similar cuts to agricultural education programs in Tennessee have occurred in recent years as the 6% attrition rate remains steady.
Why is this shortage of agricultural educators occurring? Dr. Will Bird, assistant professor of Agriculture Education at UTM, says, “I think one of the barriers for going into Ag Ed is the stigma that comes with being a teacher. Pay is another one.”
Bird says that with a 6% attrition rate among the 349 agriculture teachers in Tennessee, 21 graduates are needed each year from the state’s universities to fill those vacant positions. UTM, UTK, Tennessee Tech University and Middle Tennessee State University combined only produced 13 Agricultural Education graduates in the 2017-2018 school year.
However, UTM’s agricultural education program has experienced steady growth in the past several years. When Bird arrived in 2016, there were 20 Agricultural Education majors at the university. Today, that number has nearly doubled to 38 students.
The program focuses on providing a comprehensive curriculum to prepare future agricultural educators for whatever classes they may have to teach in their actual careers. For a complete list of degree requirements in the Agricultural Education program, see UTM’s undergraduate catalog.
Chad Lewis, a senior Agricultural Education major at UTM from Halls and a current student teacher at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro, says, “UT Martin has given me many connections, resources, and knowledge that I can use as I prepare to become an agricultural educator.”
In addition to its curriculum, UTM’s Agricultural Education program prepares students for the realities of being an agricultural educator. Bird explains that agricultural educators work during the regular 7 a.m.-3 p.m. school day but also far past that, preparing students for and taking them to contests, conventions and camps.
“The only person in the building who may put in more work than the Ag teacher is the football coach or the principal,” Bird says. “I try to be very upfront in my GENS class. It’s a very demanding career but a very rewarding career.”
Because of these demands, many agriculture teachers struggle to attain a proper work-life balance. This pressure to excel in the classroom, contests, and awards can lead new teachers to burn out quickly.
“One of the things I really stress with my students is to not feel like you have to do everything. Have a good FFA program that meets the community’s needs and participates in contests, but you should be a good husband, wife, parent, or whatever else you are first and let everything else fall second to that,” Bird says.
While the program does not sugar coat the struggles agriculture educators face, it also seeks to create a positive environment for future teachers.
“We need to stop telling our students that being an Ag teacher is a bad decision or that they would be better off in another career. We need to be inviting and recruiting more people to join us as educators,” Lewis says.
One way UTM is welcoming future agricultural education majors is through the Teach Ag signing day at the Tennessee FFA State Convention each March. At this event, students, teachers, family and friends are invited for a photo op as high school seniors declare their intent to study agricultural education at the university level.
This event is inspired by the National Teach Ag Campaign, for which Lewis serves as a 2018-2019 student ambassador. The campaign provides current and future educators with the resources and ideas to increase recruitment and retention of agriculture teachers on the local, state and national level.
According to the Tennessee Department of Education, school-based agricultural education (SBAE) is a systematic program of instruction that allows students to learn about agricultural science, business, technology, animal science, plant science and environmental/ natural resources. SBAE is driven by a three-component model of classroom/laboratory instruction, work-based learning and participation in leadership programs through FFA, as stated by the National Council for Agricultural Education.
Agriculture teachers can expect to be paid slightly more than teachers of other subjects because they are most often employed under a 12-month contract. This means that they are paid for the work they do during the summer in addition to the regular, 10-month school year.
While Bird explains that the starting salary for agricultural educators may be slightly higher than other teaching jobs, teachers in the southeast can expect to start out with less. The National Association of Agricultural Educator’s Region 5—which includes Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina—reports an average starting salary of $38,178 compared to $40,854 nationwide.
As he prepares to graduate from UTM in May and begin his career as an agricultural educator, Lewis is still hopeful and passionate about the future of his profession.
“We owe it to the future of agriculture education and to the future of the agriculture industry to ensure that there are enough qualified Ag teachers to teach the many students across the state of Tennessee and our nation. We must come together and unite as teachers to recruit and advocate for our profession.”
